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Q&A with Eddie Jordan

The past month has been a continuous fast break for Eddie Jordan. Since being named head coach of the Rutgers men’s basketball team, the former Scarlet Knights star and longtime NBA coach has scored on the recruiting trail, handed out some assists and was involved in a highly publicized turnover.

For starters, the 58-year-old Jordan navigated a roller-coaster of roster changes. Five players decided to transfer and two recruits committed elsewhere. He also re-recruited two players and signed three new ones. He filled out a staff, did scores of media interviews, attended Big Ten meetings, got his head shaved for a Rutgers baseball charity and had to explain why he never earned his college degree.

On Wednesday Jordan met his boss, new athletics director Julie Hermann. On Thursday he sat down for a wide-ranging interview and discussed his first impressions of the job, his thoughts on recruiting and coaching, and his goal to “build a culture of togetherness and toughness.”

Q. What have the past four weeks been like for you, since you got the job?

A. Our first priority was to talk to the guys who were thinking about leaving. We did our best, and some guys decided to leave. We’re happy for them and we’re happy for us. The first thing I told them was, ‘You’re either 100 percent in or you’re out. If you’re 50-50 you might as well leave. You can’t come back in another month or three games into the season and say, ‘I should have left.’”

“It was a whirlwind, but it’s been a whirlwind for three years. For three years (since being fired as head coach of the 76ers) I didn’t sink my teeth into basketball the way I wanted to. This came around and it was a new challenge. I know college recruiting is different than the NBA, but I wanted something I could sink my teeth into. I’m prepared for the challenge.”

“One year when I was out (of the NBA) I coached the freshman team at my high school, my son’s eighth grade team and I coached D.C. Assault’s 17-and-under (AAU team). I did everything from carrying the balls into the gym to sweeping the floors. It was fun—it was probably one of the most rewarding times I had in basketball. But I always wanted to coach Rutgers. It had to be the right situation. This is the right situation, as ironic as it sounds.”

Q. The RAC was going up when you were leaving Rutgers. What do you think of its condition and the proposed renovation?

A. When I look at the RAC, you know what I see? I see a really nice floor and two baskets. That’s where my guys are going to play. Eventually when we win, the donors will be excited about helping out and improving the facilities. When Julie (Hermann) and I talked I said, ‘Julie, my strengths are I’m patient, I’m low maintenance and I’m open-minded.’ Maybe those are some of my faults, too. I’m not raising my fist and saying, ‘I need this, I need that.’ I’m not like that.”

Q. How is your re-introduction to recruiting going?

A. I love it. I got a really nice response. I had three head-coaching jobs in the NBA, but I never got a response like this with people who wanted to join my staff. It was 10 times over all the responses in the NBA. This is attractive. It’s the Big Ten, New York media, possible upgrades in the facility. I was at the Big Ten meetings (last week). The Big Ten is trying to come to our region to recruit. I told the other coaches, ‘Look guys, we’re putting a stake in our region and we’re going to dominate our region.’”

Q. You have nine scholarship players. How many more do you need to bring in for next season?

A. We have a walk-on who we’ll award a scholarship to, Logan Kelley. That will be 10. We’re still beating the bushes but we’re going to be selective. We’re not taking a kid who wants to come but is not good enough. We still have some possibilities out there. But we don’t know right now. We’re being selective about it.”

Q. What do you think of your current roster?

A. I like that we’re athletic and we have good length. We were hoping to keep a couple more guys, but that’s what happens. Maybe we have to do some things to compensate for what we don’t have. Jared Jeffries played two positions for me in Washington. He was a 6-11 forward but he played the two and it helped us. Maybe we have to do some things like that. I know we’re not going to lack toughness. We’re not going to lack athleticism. We may lack a shooter, we may lack a pure scorer, we may lack a protector at the rim although Wally (Judge) is pretty big and pretty athletic. But we won’t be short in the big-heart department. We’ve got some pretty tough guys.”

Q. Regarding the issue that came to light last week, that you don’t have your college degree, how do you plan to address that going forward?

A. I’ve always wanted to get my degree. That’s why I retired from the NBA. I was working toward that and I’m still going to work toward it. I’ve always had plans to finish school and get my degree.”

Q. Just a curious aside, what was it like to coach Kobe Bryant?

A. Kobe is the most focused player I’ve ever been around. He’s quiet, he studies the game, he hardly ever smiles. He is one of the most team-oriented superstars I’ve seen. And he takes care of his body to the umpteenth degree. I didn’t say much to Kobe. He sort of coaches himself. In fact, I have a call coming from Kobe pretty soon to talk about him branding us a little bit with some Kobe stuff. He’s Nike. It’s something we’re both interested in.”

Q. Much has been made of your Princeton-style principles. What is your offensive philosophy?

A. I’ve always liked the shell of two guards, two forwards and a center. I don’t think you should always say, ‘I’m a point guard,’ or ‘I’m a shooting guard.’ Does that mean you shoot all the time or he has to pass all the time? Forwards, you attack the defense better when two guys can do the same things, not when the three always goes into isolation or the four always posts up.”

“With Myles (Mack) and D’Von (Campbell), I’m not playing with two point guards. I’m playing with two guards. I think the players like the fact that they don’t have to always shoulder the responsibility of quarterbacking the team. Now how does basketball work? The people who have a knack for doing something will do it more. So if D’Von has a knack for running the offense, he’ll do it more.”

Q. What do you want to get out of this first year?

A. Exceed expectations. People may sell us short. How do you exceed expectations? There’s an old saying, ‘You play harder, longer than your opponent.’ If we can see growth at the defensive end, that’s important. You want to see guys talking to each other the right way, communicating. You want to see our guys helping each other. If someone makes a play, you’re happy for him. I want to build a culture of togetherness and toughness.”

Q. How excited are you for this challenge?

A. You can tell I’m excited, just talking about it. I haven’t talked basketball in a long time. It’s all been, ‘Who are we going to call today?’ It is really exciting. At the Big Ten meeting, a couple of coaches said, ‘You mean to tell me you came down here (to the college ranks) for this?’ I said, ‘I can’t wait.’ It’s a great challenge. I didn’t do this to get another job. I’m doing this to be the best I can be at it. Obviously I’m not looking for any other job. For me, this is it.”

3 thoughts on “Q&A with Eddie Jordan”

Understandably Jordan won't be more assertive on the RAC rebuild project with the incoming A.D. from L'ville and our ever-bumbling Prez Magoo higher in the chain of command. But maybe Jerry in an interview in the near future with Julie Hermann you can press the issue? The B1G deal will provide ample cash flow to fund the RAC project so RU should issue muni bonds at today's low interest rates and move ahead now.

"Waiting for donors to be excited..." to ramp-up the project sounds like a clueless Barchi cop-out.

Ready, Pernetti's plan was to use the future Big Ten riches to secure a loan covering the shortfall in fundraising -- but he was expecting that shortfall to be much smaller than what we have now. That was also before Barchi sunk his teeth into athletics spending. I don't see Rutgers going the municipal bonds route after doing so with the football stadium.

I will ask Hermann when the time is right but I am extremely skeptical that the RAC will be renovated on a level anywhere near what Pernetti had drawn up.

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About the Author

Jerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.Email Jerry.